As the Chinese economy maintains medium-high growth, the renminbi has the conditions to remain basically stable, said the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Dec 13.

Recent depreciation of the renminbi, or the yuan, has been caused by international factors, particularly rising expectations that the Fed will raise interest rates, said Mao Shengyong, spokesperson for the NBS, at a press conference.

In fact, other major currencies depreciated against the US dollar more sharply, he said.

Mao said that, judging from the nation’s economic fundamentals, the economy will maintain medium-high growth with a trade surplus and abundant foreign reserves. Other factors, such as the Belt and Road Initiative and the yuan’s inclusion in the IMF Special Drawing Right (SDR) currency basket will also increase global demand for renminbi assets, according to Mao.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency strengthened 152 basis points to 6.8934 against the US dollar on Dec 13, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trading System.

In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.